Truth can be uncomfortable, especially when it challenges what we’ve heard, believed, or even taught. This week’s Parashah is not just about ancient Israel’s journey through the wilderness. It’s about what happens when truth gets twisted and history gets rewritten. I invite you to read this with an open heart, because it may challenge some assumptions about Scripture, about God, and about how we understand the world around us.

Today, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict is one of the most debated and misunderstood topics in the world. The media is flooded with half-truths, emotional appeals, and one-sided narratives that paint Israel as an occupying aggressor and the Palestinians as helpless victims. The result is a global bias against Israel, even among believers.

We constantly hear words like “occupation,” “apartheid,” “ethnic cleansing,” and even “genocide” used to describe Israel. These are serious accusations. They stir strong emotions and carry heavy historical weight. But when we examine the facts, both biblically and historically, these claims fall apart. They are not just misleading. They are false. And they have become tools in a broader campaign to delegitimize the Jewish people’s presence in their ancestral homeland.

This kind of distortion is not new. It’s ancient.

In this week’s Parashah, we see Israel nearing the Promised Land after years in the desert. At every step, they seek peace, but are met with hostility. When Israel asked Edom for peaceful passage through their land, Edom responded with war:

Edom refused to allow Israel passage through his territory. Edom came out with a large and powerful army, and he cornered Israel… Israel said to him, ‘We will go along the highway; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left.’
Edom said, ‘You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.’
Numbers 20:18–21

Israel turned away. They sought peace, even in rejection.

Later, Israel faced violence from other nations. The king of Arad attacked them, and God gave Israel victory:

Then the Canaanite king of Arad… attacked Israel and captured some of them. And Israel made a vow to the LORD… and God gave Israel victory over the Canaanite king of Arad.
Numbers 21:1–3

The Amorites also refused passage and attacked. God again delivered:

They took the road to the wilderness… and the Amorite king Sihon… fought against Israel… And the LORD our God gave them into our hand.
Numbers 21:21–24

Finally, Og, king of Bashan, came out to fight:   

So Israel defeated Og… the LORD gave Israel all the land of Og… the whole region of Bashan. 
Numbers 21:33–35

Israel did not initiate conflict. They pursued peace. When attacked, God protected His people.

The Haftarah recounts Jephthah’s encounter with the Ammonite king, who accused Israel of stealing land. Jephthah answers with Scripture and history:

Israel did not take the land of Moab nor the land of the sons of Ammon, and when they came up from Egypt… they went through the wilderness… Then they sent messengers to the king of Edom… but the king of Edom would not listen… So Israel remained at Kadesh and went through the wilderness to the side of the land of Moab and camped… beyond the Arnon.
Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon… and Sihon… gathered all his people and camped… and fought against Israel. And the LORD… delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them.
Judges 11:15–21

And he boldly challenges Ammon’s claim:

Then Jephthah again sent messengers… and they said to him this is what Jephthah says: ‘While Israel was living in Heshbon and its villages and in Aroer… for three hundred years why did you not recover them during that time?’
Judges 11:26

Jephthah stands firm on truth. The Ammonite king refuses to respond (Judges 11:28).

And what follows?

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah… and the LORD gave them into his hand… He received the asherah as far as the border of Mizpah. So Jephthah struck the sons of Ammon from Aroer… twenty cities… and Israel took possession of them.” 
Judges 11:29, 32–33

Jephthah’s victory came not from politics, but from speaking God’s truth.

And so, recent history is not a far cry from Israel’s ancient history. In 1947, the Jewish leadership accepted the United Nations partition plan of the region that was known as British Mandate Palestine. Arab nations rejected it and invaded once Israel declared independence.

Since then, Israel has repeatedly offered land for peace. Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt under the 1979 Camp David Accords. In 1994, it signed a peace treaty with Jordan. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip. Under the Oslo Accords (1993–95), Israel transferred civil authority over parts of Judea and Samaria to the Palestinian Authority.

But these efforts were met with continued violence. Gaza became a base for rocket attacks and terrorism. On October 7, 2023, Hamas orchestrated the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, killing more than 1,200 Israelis and other foreign nationals.

In Judea and Samaria, incitement, terrorist attacks, and glorification of violence continue. The issue has never truly been borders. It has always been Israel’s right to exist.

Peace was never off the table. But peace requires acknowledgment of truth. One side has consistently refused.

This is not about choosing political sides. It is about choosing to stand with the truth found in God’s Word.

Jephthah didn’t fight nationalism. He stood on Scripture and history. God honored that:

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah… and the LORD gave them into his hand. 
Judges 11:29, 32

Truth still matters.

In a world where facts are distorted and lies are repeated until they sound true, we are called to be people who stand firm on the Word of God. We must speak the truth, live by the truth, and not be afraid to stand for what is right, even when it’s unpopular.

Shabbat Shalom,
Moran